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Sunday, September 12, 2010

Stephen Tsai recaps the game, giving us insight into some of the offensive and defensive adjustments Army made.

Because the Warriors were effective against the triple-option, Army "stopped running the option," UH defensive coordinator Dave Aranda said.

The Black Knights turned to a formation they did not use before — "the twins," in which there are two receivers to one side, one on the other side and two backs. They also ran power-blocking plays, fly sweeps (in which an in-motion receiver takes the handoff on a misdirection route) and play-action passes.

On defense, the Black Knights switched from a five-man front to a 4-2-5 scheme. The reasoning, according to Army coach Rich Ellerson, was to create a pass rush with four linemen, allowing the Black Knights to drop another defender into pass coverage. In particular, defensive end Joshua McNary was disruptive with his ferocious pass-rushes.

Throughout the game, Pollard suggested calling the hitch-and-go, a route in which he runs a few yards, stutter-steps to the outside, then sprints upfield.

"It's not something we really work on a lot," offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich said.

But when the Warriors gained possession at their 27, with 24 seconds remaining in a game tied at 28, Rolovich gave his blessing.

"Royce is such a bright player, and we needed a big play," Rolovich said. Army was "giving us a cushion (in the coverage). It was the right time to call it. That's what we talk about all of the time: Communication. Bring some information back."

In the Star-Advertiser's news and notes, Jim Donovan says he hopes to schedule Army to more games in the future, and it looks like Spencer Smith will be out 6 to 8 weeks:

Spencer Smith, Hawaii's starting strong safety, is expected to miss between six and eight weeks of games after suffering a fractured right forearm in yesterday's 31-28 victory over Army.

Smith suffered the injury in the first half, and was examined in Michie Stadium's medical room.

So what the Warriors did in coming back to beat Army yesterday might have been about more than just saving a day. One that opened with the offense displaying the kind of midseason crispness that could — and should — have put this one away early.

Instead, after impressively rolling to a 21-0 lead just 3 minutes, 29 seconds into the second quarter, the Warriors' all-too-familiar road-game bugaboos surfaced in frightening succession. A fumbled kickoff, a substitution penalty, another fumble, the inability to make fourth-down stops and, suddenly, before you knew it Army had a 28-21 lead.

The Black Knights had the momentum and the Warriors had a nightmare unfolding in broad daylight.

This time, however, the difference was the Warriors had both a resilience and can-do, big-play ability about them and came back to tie it at 28. Those kinds of characteristics were often lacking in 2009.

Dave Reardon catches up with former Warrior and current warrior Khevin Peoples. Reardon and Peoples see what could be shaping up to be a special team.

I KNOW, it's just one win. But I'm going to say it — maybe this is a team that "finds ways." Certainly, it found a way to blow a big lead, frittering away a near-perfect first quarter on both sides of the ball. But it also found a way to make the big plays when it counted, at the end with the score close.

"I was pleased with what I saw against USC and against Army," Peoples said. "The guys turned it up a notch when they needed it (yesterday). I couldn't help but think they'd gone 100 percent in the offseason to get that next year better than the previous one. Royce (Pollard) wants it, you can see the fire in his eyes. Kealoha (Pilares), this is his last year and you can see he wants it bad. Lots of guys."

This was the way fans had remembered Army football. Not done until the final second ticked off, no matter the opponent, the deficit, the feeling. This was the kind of magical game that kept Army fans coming back through all the years of disappointment, of bad hires and unprepared players amounting to some of the most God-awful losses.

But the way Army came back on Saturday — seemingly finished barely a quarter into it, a backup quarterback named Max Jenkins admirably filling in for injured starter Trent Steelman — undoubtedly sent a surge of sweet nostalgia through its fan base. Army football, measured by blood and guts, was back.